


the sweater curse

by sapphao



Category: K-pop, SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, I Don't Even Know, Knitting, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi is Whipped, M/M, Short One Shot, Soft Xu Ming Hao | The8, and minghao is exasperated, in which jeonghan is trying to finish his essay, jun isn't helping, soonhao!!, soonyoung believes in the sweater curse, vernon supportive friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28343487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphao/pseuds/sapphao
Summary: “If someone took your body measurements in your sleep, what would you think?” Soonyoung is staring at the ceiling of Jeonghan’s room.“Well personally, I’d take it as a threat.” He replies, after pondering about it for a while.“A threat?” Soonyoung turns around, keeping holding his head up between his hands. He can never tell what’s going through his mind. Jeonghan takes his time to explain what he means as a puzzled expression grows on Soonyoung’s face.“Yeah, like why are they doing it while I'm asleep?” He asks, moving his hands around. “Minghao is probably building you a coffin as we speak”
Relationships: Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Comments: 5
Kudos: 47





	the sweater curse

**Author's Note:**

> hi! here I am trying to contribute to the soonhao tag once again.  
> I've had this idea in my mind for a while now, after reading this one tweet about the sweater curse.  
> It is an actual thing, check wikipedia if you don't believe me! I found it quite interesting :') and for some reason I feel like out of seventeen soonyoung is the most likely to actively believe in it 
> 
> hope you'll enjoy this,  
> merry christmas :))

“If someone took your body measurements in your sleep, what would you think?” Soonyoung is staring at the ceiling of Jeonghan’s room. 

The oldest has agreed on having him over since he has promised to be quiet, but they both know that Soonyoung is not actually able to keep such a promise. He has been thinking about that for the whole day now, and while he knows that his friend is busy working on his essay, he can’t keep it for himself anymore. 

“Your body measurement?” Jeonghan stops typing and turns around on his chair, with a raised brow and an amused grin. If he’s mad Soonyoung broke his promise, it definitely doesn’t look like it. “In your sleep?”

“Yeah.” 

“Well personally, I’d take it as a threat.” He replies, after pondering about it for a while. 

“A threat?” Soonyoung turns around, holding his head up between his hands. _How would that be a threat?_ \- He thinks, never really knowing what’s going through his mind. Jeonghan takes his time to explain what he means as a puzzled expression grows on Soonyoung’s face.

“Yeah, like why are they doing it while I'm asleep?” He asks, moving his hands around. “Minghao is probably building you a coffin as we speak” He explains, making it sound like that’s the most reasonable conclusion he could’ve come up with. Soonyoung laughs nervously, because while he knows that’s _definitely_ not the case, he still ends up considering the possibility, in a minuscule corner of his mind. That's Jeonghan’s secret power; he always knows how to plant doubt in someone’s head.

“I didn’t mention it being about Minghao.” Argues back, frowning.

“Who else do you sleep with?” Jeonghan laughs, when his cheeks start burning. The oldest turns around and faces his laptop again. “Anyway, considering how he’s into knitting, I think it’ll most likely be for a sweater. Or something like that.”

“A sweater?” Thinks out loud Soonyoung, and his chest warms at the thought of Minghao spending his time making something for him. ”Cute.”

He falls back on Jeonghan’s bed and grins dumbly, because he knows exactly what Minghao’s looks like when he knits; hair messy and tongue sticking out, while sitting on the ground with his legs crossed. He has seen it so many times, that it’s too easy to picture him. He has seen it so many times, that it definitely shouldn’t cause such a reaction in him.

However, the mental image of Minghao knitting for him is so adorable, he has to stop himself from screaming. He shuts his eyes and sighs as silence falls in the room again, the faint background music coming from Jeonghan’s laptop the only thing breaking it.

Regardless of his attempt to be quiet, Jeonghan probably senses that Soonyoung can’t hold it anymore, because after a good minute he throws his pencil case at him, just when he’s about to open his mouth.

**  
  
  
**

“You’ve been working on that for ages now” Vernon rolls over his bed to check how his friend is doing. He chuckles, when he notices that Minghao’s tongue is sticking out of his mouth, completely absorbed by what he’s doing. 

Sitting on the dark carpet, Minghao is moving his hands slowly, eyes completely focused on the wool around his knitting needles. He moves the thread up and down, back and forth and then all over again. 

“Mh-mh” He nods. 

Vernon is right; he has been working on that for almost two weeks now. Thinking that it would’ve taken him a lifetime, he has started to work on the sweater as soon as the idea has crossed his mind. He’s glad he did now because it is, indeed, taking him longer than expected. 

While Minghao can't consider himself the best at it, his knitting game is still pretty good. The reason for such a slow progress isn’t due to his abilities; finding some free time to actually work on it, as a second year university student, simply isn’t that simple. Especially considering that most of that free time is usually claimed by Soonyoung, who makes sure to be around whenever Minghao isn’t busy studying. 

The latter doesn’t hate it - quite the opposite to be fair - so he never complains, but that makes it hard to hide anything he’s working on from him. Quite impossible, if it’s something that requires that much time, hence why he works on it even when he’s supposed to be hanging out with his best friend.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take a break?” Vernon’s full eyebrows draw together, when the older closes his eyes and rests his head against the wall. 

“I want to finish this on time.” He whines, his eyes still closed. He’s finished with the sleeves and the back, the front is the only part missing. Once he’s done with that, he just has to link the pieces together. Once his eyes are open again, he studies the piece of fabric between his hands. 

He still has some days before Christmas, he thinks, and his lectures are over. He can do it.

“You’ll end up stabbing yourself with one of those big needles if you don’t take a break.” Vernon sits down on his bed, and shakes the switch in his hand, his lips curved in a bright smile.

Minghao sighs knowing that he’ll regret this later, but joins his friend and puts gently away the needles.

**  
  
**

“Isn’t it the cutest thing ever?” Soonyoung keeps moving on his chair and for a second - a long second, thought - the idea of tying him up to his chair crosses Jeonghan’s mind.

“Yes, adorable. Can’t we talk about this later?” He hiss, as he keeps his eyes focused on his screen, pretending he’s not there. 

“What are you talking about?” Jun lifts up his eyes from his book, lost. 

Jeonghan sighs and feels terribly stupid; agreeing on going to the library with Jun and Soonyoung, never turned out well. Why was he expecting it to be any different this time?

The place was quite empty, but not completely. The girl standing some tables away from theirs sends a gaze in their direction, and Jeonghan smiles apologetically. That’s luckily more than enough for her to blush and turn around.

“Minghao took my body measurements in my sleep.” He says it as if it’s the most romantic thing ever to do, now that he knows what his boyfriend needs them for.

“That’s,” Jun thinks about it for a second. “That’s weird.” Argues, a line forming on his forehead. 

“He’s making me a sweater.” Soonyoung explains, with dreamy eyes. “A handmade sweater. Isn’t that cute?”

“How do you know it's for a sweater?”

“Can you both shut up?” Whispers Jeonghan, taking in a deep breath and they both go quiet. The two go back to their work, after staring at each other with a guilty expression.

Jun is reading his textbook, lazily moving a pencil on it to keep track of words. Or at least, trying to, because this paragraph on meteorology is boring and he doesn’t really get what the Coriolis effect that keeps being mentioned is about. In addition, now he’s distracted by what Soonyoung just told him. His legs keep bouncing and Jeonghan notices, even if he pretends he doesn’t.

When Jun starts playing with his pencil as well, he shuts his eyes because _he just knows_ that the younger is about to speak up again.

“Just” Jun starts, and Soonyoung’s small eyes focus on him quickly. Whatever he’s doing on his laptop, has to wait. “Are you sure?”

“I mean, not completely but what else could it be?” Soonyoung bites his lip, guilty as a wave of disappointment hits him; he realises he likes the idea of a handmade sweater too much to let go of it now.

“I don’t know, but” Jun stops and lowers his voice, someone clearing his throat suddenly reminding him that he’s in a library. “haven’t you heard of the sweater curse?”

“The sweater curse?” Soonyoung gasps loudly and this time someone shh at them. He lowers his head, cheeks burning, going back to his laptop but unable to focus. Not that he’s actually trying to in the first place. 

He starts playing with his hands instead and Jeonghan, sitting next to him, starts hoping to be right and that Minghao _is_ building him a coffin. The way he drums with his fingers on the shared desk is so annoying, Jeonghan sends a glance in his direction that is enough to make him stop. Eventually, they fall back into silence.

Jeonghan breathes out, and stretches his neck. He’s finally about to go back to his essay when he sees Soonyoung stretching his arm to call Jun’s attention with the corner of his eye.

“What’s the sweater curse?” He whispers, and Jeonghan grunts. **  
**

“You’re freezing.” Minghao ends up saying, when he notices Soonyoung’s gooseflesh. He stops the movie they’re watching, and frees himself from the other’s hug. 

“No, I’m not.” The latter argues, and Minghao raises a brow. Soonyoung is sitting there with his arms completely exposed, wearing a t-shirt with a silly print on that he has never seen before. He knows Soonyoung doesn’t get as cold as he does, but that’s just ridiculous. It’s late December and it’s clearly freezing, even for him. Why he’s trying to deny that, is a mystery.

“Just put on a sweater or something.”

“No.” Soonyoung replies so quickly and in such a high pitch that Minghao can’t help but stare at him, confusion glowing in his eyes. He laughs nervously and Minghao definitely knows something’s off. 

“Is something wrong?” He asks, straightening his back. 

“Not at all, I just don’t like wearing sweaters.” Soonyoung is terrible at lying, his whole body always betrays him in some way or another. As he bites his lip right after the words leaves his mouth, he knows Minghao is going to call him out for it. 

“What are you on?” Minghao laughs at the statement. “You always use them.”

“I wear them just because people gift them to me.” He’s stubborn and keeps on pushing his lie regardless it being obvious. “And I definitely have too many.”

“Is that so?” Minghao can’t tell whether the other is joking around or not anymore. He thinks about the pieces of cloth in the drawer of his desk, waiting to be linked together, and bites his lip.

“So many that if someone gifted me a new one for Christmas, I wouldn’t even know where to put it.” He adds and just as always when he’s lying, he doesn’t know how to stop before going too far. He laughs and rushes to press play again, Howl’s moving castle starts again and he pretends he doesn’t notice how the other one is staring at him. “Just saying.” He rushes to add. 

“Sure.” Minghao nods slowly, studying Soonyoung’s behaviour. He’s biting his nails and bowing his head to avoid his gaze, making Minghao frown. He doesn’t push it, but spends the rest of the evening thinking about his words.

 _That_ \- he keeps telling himself - _was an extremely specific statement._

**  
  
  
**

“I think Soonyoung found out.” Minghao grabs his coffee, and the warmth coming from the cup spreads to his hands. He takes a sip, and watches Vernon doing the same.

“How even?” Vernon sighs, and thinks about all their effort to keep the surprise from him. He watches Minghao pressing his hands to his cheeks, and rushes to cheer him up. “He’s still going to love it.”

“I’m not quite sure about that.” He pouts.

“What do you mean?”

“He keeps randomly mentioning that he hates sweaters and I know he doesn't. I have a strong feeling he doesn’t want me to finish it.” He explains, thinking about Soonyoung showing him his wardrobe, that according to him was _exploding with sweaters,_ or about the comments about the sweaters he would see in any shop they walked in, like: _why would anyone wear that?_

He has made it more than clear by now, that he knows Minghao is making him a sweater, and apparently he hates the idea.

“I’m sure once he’ll see it, he’ll love it.” Vernon smiles at him, and truly believes in what he’s saying. 

Minghao is still too glum to smile back. He thinks about the pieces of cloth carefully hidden in his drawer and about the time he has wasted on them. Until a couple of days before, he was sure the sweater was turning out nicely, now he's regretting ever starting to work on it.

“I really hope you're right.”

**  
  
  
**

“They were here.” Minghao says, as he checks the drawer once again.

“Maybe you left them somewhere else.” Vernon’s voice comes out of his phone a bit distorted.

“Like where?” Minghao massages his temple, sitting down on his bed. “It’s not like I bring my needles everywhere I go. I know they were here.” 

“They’re not here either.” Says his friend, and that doesn’t reassure him at all.

“You don’t happen to know someone who has a spare pair of needles, do you?” 

“Maybe, I can ask around.” Vernon is quite sure no one he knows is into knitting, excluding Minghao, but he’ll give it a try anyway. “Have you asked your flatmates? Maybe they took them.”

“What would they even need them for?” Minghao rebuts. While they probably do get in his room without his permission, neither Mingyu nor Seungkwan have enough patience to knit, reason why he’s quite sure they’d never even get close to his needles. Wonwoo is the only one that Minghao considers having enough patience to do it, but he’d also never take something without asking first. 

“But who else could’ve taken them from your room?” Vernon argues and is such a simple observation, but enough to make something in Minghao’s brain click. 

“I might have an idea.” He knows Vernon can’t see him, but he shakes his head anyway.

He wonders why, _why_ , he would do that.

**  
  
  
**

“Soonyoung, it’s me.” Minghao smiles awkwardly as his flatmate is staring at him while he’s knocking on his boyfriend’s door. 

“Come in.” He hears from the other side of the door, and he finally gets away from Seokmin’s curious look. That’s not the first time they meet, but that doesn’t make it less awkward.

“Hey.” Soonyoung is sitting on his bed, his black hair spiking in every direction and his hoodie is a bit crooked. He smiles at him, but he doesn’t meet his eyes and starts playing with his hands. 

Minghao forgets why he’s there for a second and has to repress the urge to smile at the sight. Instead, he folds his arms and stares at him, with a hard gaze. 

“Soonyoung, why did you take my needles?” He asks, and the oldest freezes. 

“Your needles?” He acts dumb, but he’s already rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah, you know. The big ones I always use when I’m knitting.” He shows with his hands their size. Soonyoung realises he probably hasn’t been as subtle as he thought he has.

“I don’t know where they are.” He tries to argue back, but he’s not meeting his eyes and Minghao knows damn well when he’s lying.

“Was the tiger print that bad?” Minghao sighs, as he sits down next to him. “I really tried to make it work but it was harder than I thought. I wasn’t going to force you to wear it, especially if you hate it so much that you felt the need to hide my needles from me.”

“Tiger print?” Soonyoung’s lips part away, his small eyes glowing.

 _So he didn’t see it?_ \- Minghao’s head tilts, his hair falling in front of his eyes, as the thought that Soonyoung is actually telling the truth crosses his mind. 

“That’s not it.” He shakes his hands vehemently. “I just don’t want us to break up.”

**  
  
  
**

“This is all your fault.” Minghao whispers, as he has to keep himself from punching Jun, sitting right next to him. He does kick his leg, since no one can see.

“I didn’t think he would take it seriously.” He argues, a hand run to massage his calf.

“You knew damn well he would have.”

“Listen up.” Soonyoung’s small eyes are reading carefully what the Wikipedia’s page in front of him recites. “Almost 41% of knitters seem to believe in it.” He’s reading slowly. “It’s believed that if a knitter gives a hand-knit sweater to a significant other, it will lead to the couple breaking up.”

“Is this why you stole his needles?” Vernon is laughing, even if the whole situation is far from funny for Minghao.

“It’s an actual thing!” Soonyoung cheeks are burning. “It says you shouldn’t knit your significant other a sweater before marriage.”

“I doubt we’ll ever make it to it.” Minghao hides his face in his hands, massaging his temples.

“You see, it’s already working!” Soonyoung points at him with an accusing look. Minghao grunts and turns around, meeting Jeonghan’s eyes with a look that says something like: _Please, help me out_.

Jeonghan is sitting in silence, trying to read his conclusion again for the fifth time, but having to stop and start all over again because of his friends’ voices. Again, he doesn't know why when they had organised a group study session, he had actually believed it would've worked out. Jun and Minghao don't even have their books with them, he notices. He takes a deep breath and clears his throat, because he doesn’t want to fail this module. 

“From what you’ve read, it seems like the number of knitters who claim to experience the curse, falls about in the same range as” He moves his hand mid air, imitating the movement of a scale. “all relationships.” He finishes, Soonyoung’s head tilting at the statement. 

“About 10-20% of relationships fail depending on age & other factors.” He continues, and both Vernon and Jun nod, trying to follow his reasoning.

“15% of people who knit a sweater for their partner, get dumped” He explains. “and blame the sweater for it.” 

Minghao stares at him with a small grin, amazed by how his brain works. He thinks it’s terrifying, in a way, how quickly he has managed to come up with something like that. Soonyoung is rubbing his chin, his eyes slightly squeezed, probably pondering about his friend’s words. Minghao hopes that Jeonghan explanation will be enough, to get his needles back. He's waiting in silence, and when his boyfriend seems to finally be convinced, someone clears his throat.

“You just made up some numbers like you always do, didn’t you?”

Minghao punches Jun without even thinking about it. 

**  
  
  
**

“I’m not opening it.” Soonyoung shakes his head, as Minghao hands him his present.

“Just, trust me.” He doesn’t know where he finds the patience to keep up with Soonyoung’s behaviour. He thinks he must like him more than he thought, because the idea of breaking up with him still hasn’t crossed his mind. 

“Alright.” Soonyoung is still doubtful, but starts getting rid of the tape and the wrapping paper. He starts seeing glimpses of cloth, and pouts. 

“Take it out.” He laughs softly, exasperated. Minghao still doesn't believe in that whole sweater course, but because his boyfriend does, he has spent the Christmas Eve working on it. Before linking the part together as he was supposed to, he had made some changes on it. 

“You promised it wasn’t a sweater.” He tries to act upset, but his eyes are betraying his voice. He’s staring at the tiger print, his hand brushing against the soft fabric with sparkling eyes.

“Because it’s not.” Minghao helps him put it on, and points at the buttons on the front he has added the night before. “It’s a cardigan.”

“A cardigan!” He squeals in response, as he realises that he's telling the truth. He wraps himself in it and doesn’t know how to stop grinning, because it fits him perfectly and smells like Minghao. 

“Thank you.” Soonyoung gets closer, kissing him lightly on the cheek. “I love it.” He says, softly.

Minghao wants to roast him and remember him about how until a few minutes before, he was running away from him refusing to open his present. He wants to tease him for his behaviour a bit more, but Soonyoung is standing in front of him wearing the cardigan he made with pink cheeks and hiding his hands in the sleeves. His eyes are closed because of how brightly he’s smiling and the Christmas hat on his head looks like it's about to fall. His chest feels tight and he forgets about whatever he was about to say.

“Merry Christmas.” He giggles instead, fixing it. 


End file.
